Georgetown MBA Grads Set Another Pay Record

Georgetown McDonough photo

In probably the single most important way, it’s another banner employment report for full-time MBA graduates at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. For the second year in a row, McDonough MBAs have secured record salary numbers, seeing a 6% increase from last year’s average starting salary to $124,119.

McDonough’s MBA pay has increased by 15% since 2016. That nicely offsets the not-so-good news in this year’s report, that the percentage of job offers and acceptances three months after graduation both slipped from last year’s record highs to 95% and 92%, respectively — and that signing bonuses were down slightly, too, from an average $31,036 in 2018 to $30,737 this year.

“With a tailored approach to the search process, the MBA Career Center strives to deliver on each student’s individual goals for earning their MBA,” says Doreen Amorosa, associate dean of McDonough Career Services, in a news release from the school. “Building from our recent Bloomberg Businessweek ranking of having the best-trained graduates in the world, we expect to continue to match the best talent to highly sought-after employers.”

CONSULTING, FINANCE RULE McDONOUGH’S ROOST

Georgetown McDonough’s 2019 employment report shows a shuffling of industries, with tech slipping to the destination of 14% of the school’s 276 students, down from 17.5% in 2018. Consulting, on the other hand, leaped from 25.5% last year to 35% this year, a 37% increase, and also drove the average salary up for the whole class with a pace-setting $136,656, a 5.4% increase from 2018. Also was up was financial services, which had cratered to 21.7% last year from 33% but which rebounded to 27% in this latest report. That’s a 24.4% increase in one year.

Overall, consulting, finance, and tech account for 76% of all jobs accepted by McDonough Class of 2019 MBAs, up from about 64% last year. No other industry was in double digits; the next biggest field was real estate at 7%. Top employers include Amazon, American Airlines, Bank of America, Citigroup, Deloitte, EY, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, M&T Bank, Microsoft, PwC, and Salesforce.

“We are proud of our latest career successes beyond our record salary placements,” Amorosa says. “The true ROI of the McDonough MBA is that it prepares our graduates for a lifetime of success, providing them the knowledge, tools, and network to make a difference for years to come.”

DEDICATED TO FINDING JOBS FOR THEIR MBAs

Interns in McDonough’s Class of 2020 fared well in the summer of 2019, with average monthly compensation of $7,668, a 9% increase from 2018. All of the MBA students who sought an internship found one, with 82% of them facilitated by the school.

McDonough prides itself on the resources it dedicates to career services. Its MBA Career Center “has adapted to significant changes to the ways in which companies recruit students,” according to the school’s employment report announcement, “including developing an individualized career strategy at the very start of the program, preparing students for automated screening processes, and shifting the curriculum to better align with interview schedules.” Full-time MBA students take a job search course the summer before arriving on campus, and coaches work with them to create personalized outreach plans for employers.

The school also has launched McDonough CareerView, a recruitment technology solution for employers, students, and career center staff.

“The Career Center has created a comprehensive playbook spanning the spectrum of skills needed for my job search — technical, people, social, and communication,” says Summi Sinha, a 2019 McDonough MBA grad. “What really stood out was the early and iterative approach that helps in anticipating and preparing for the roller coaster ride of a job search.”

DON’T MISS: GEORGETOWN POSTS RECORD MBA JOBS REPORT or TEN BIGGEST SURPRISES IN BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK’S 2019 MBA RANKING